Cleaner for ring grooves of a piston



May 31, 1955 w. E. LAW

CLEANER FOR RING GROOVES OF A PISTON Filed March 20, 1953 INVENTOR m'ZZz'a mE.La W

ATTORNEYfi CLEANER FOR RING GROOUBS OF A PISTON Wiiliam E. Law, Windsor, Calif.

Application March 20, 1953, Serial No. 343,702

2 Claims. (Cl. -104.01)

This invention relates to a cleaner for the ring grooves of a piston and is an improvement over the structure embodied in my prior Patent No. 2,480,745, issued August 30, 1949, for Piston Ring Groove Cleaner.

An object of this invention is to provide a device whereby the side walls and bottoms of the ring groove of a piston may be cleaned of carbon or other deposits, so that new tings can be properly fitted into the grooves.

Another object of this invention is to provide a cleaner of this type which includes an auxiliary cleaner blade adapted to be moved into operative position where a groove is wider than the thickness of the two main cleaner blades, in order that a ridge will not be left on the groove bottom.

A further object of this invention is to provide a ring groove cleaner which can be used with pistons of various diameters and with ring grooves of Various widths.

With the above and other objects in view, my invention consists in the arrangement, combination and details of construction disclosed in the drawing and specification, and then more particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawing:

Figure l is a plan view, partly in section at one end of each guide bar, of a ring groove cleaner constructed according to an embodiment of this invention, showing the device in applied position with respect to a piston which is shown in section,

Figure 2 is a side elevation view of the device,

Figure 3 is a ragrnentary sectional view taken on the line 33 of Figure 1,

Figure 4 is a fragmentary side view showing the mauner in which the cleaner blades are disposed when in cleaning position.

Referring to the drawing, the numeral 10 designates generally a piston which is formed with one or more ring grooves 11. In order to provide a means whereby the groove 11 may be cleaned of carbon or other accumulations, I have provided a substantially V-shaped guide member generally indicated at 12, which is formed with divergent sides 13 and 14 connected together by means of an arcuate connecting member 15.

The divergent sides 13 and 14 have secured to the inner faces thereof inwardly projecting guide bars 16 and 17 respectively, which are adapted to engage interiorly of the ring groove 11. The arm or side 14 is the rear or inner side, and an obliquely disposed resilient bar 18 is formed integral with and extends rearwardly from the side 14.

A rear handle forming bar 19 is formed integral with bar 18, being connected therewith by means of an arcuate connecting member 20. A pair of forwardly divergent resilient blade carrying bars 21 and 22 project forwardly from the bar 19 and are secured relative to the bar 19 by means of a U-shaped clamping member 23 formed at the forward end of the bar or handle member 19.

The bars 21 and 22 comprise blade carriers and bar or carrier 21 has projecting angularly from the forward States Patent Patented May 31, 1955 ice end thereof a leading groove cleaning blade 24. A second or trailing cleaning blade 25 is formed integral with bar or carrier 22, being connected therewith by means of an offset connecting member 26.

In order to provide a means whereby a groove which is wider than the thickness of the two blades 24 and 25 may be cleaned without the forming of a ridge centrally of the groove, I have provided an auxiliary cleaning blade 27. The blade 27 is pivotally secured by means of a pivot 23 to the leading blade 24 and is friction tight so that when auxiliary blade 27 is in an inoperative position, which is the position shown in dotted lines in Figure 1, blade 27 will remain in an inoperative position.

A laterally projecting stop lug 29 is carried by the blade 27 and engages over the adjacent edge of blade 24. When blade 27 is in inoperative position, lug 29 will be disposed in the dotted position shown in Figure 1, at the forward upper portion of blade 24. In the operative position of blade 27, lug 29 will overlie and engage the forward upper edge of carrier or bar 21.

In the use and operation of this device, where the ring groove 11 is of a width substantially equal to or less than the combined thickness of blades 24 and 25, auxiliary blade 27 is preferably disposed in the inoperative dotted line position shown in Figure l. The guide 12 is engaged with the periphery of the piston 10, with guide bars 16 and 17 engaging in the groove 11. The piston is held in one hand, such as the left hand, and at this time the blades 24 and 25 will be disposed within the groove 11 and by reason of the resiliency of the carrier bars 21 and 22 which constantly urge the blades 24 and 25 outwardly, the side walls of the groove 11 will be cleaned, as well as the bottom wall of the groove as the device is swung about the piston 10 or the piston 10 is rotated relative to the cleaning tool.

In the event the ring groove 11 is wider than the combined thickness of the two blades 24 and 25, auxiliary blade 27 is then swung downwardly to confronting and contacting position with. respect to blade 24. The device is then operated as hereinbefore described and as the tool is rotated relative to the piston, or the piston is rotated relative to the tool, the three cleaning blades will clean the side walls and bottom of the piston groove.

I do not mean to confine myself to the exact details of construction herein disclosed, but claim all variations falling within the purview of the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. A piston ring groove cleaner comprising an elongated resilient guide arm, a V-shaped guide member carried by one end of said arm, elongated groove engaging guide bars carried by the inner faces of said guide member, a pair of elongated forwardly divergent resilient blade carriers, an arcuate resilient connection between said carriers and the rear end of said guide arm, a laterally offset extension integral with one of said carriers and projecting beyond the adjacent forward end of the other carrier, a scraper blade projecting substantially right angularly from the forward end of said other carrier, a second scraper blade projecting substantially right angularly from said extension, and an auxiliary scraper blade pivotally associated with one of said blades, said auxiliary blade effecting the cleaning of the bottom of a groove having a width greater than the combined thickness of said first and second mentioned blades.

2. A piston ring groove cleaner comprising an elongated resilient guide arm, a V-shaped guide member carried by one end of said arm, elongated groove engaging guide bars carried by the inner faces of said guide member, a pair of elongated forwardly divergent resilient blade carriers, an arcuate resilient connection between said carriers and the rear end of said guide arm, a laterally ofiset extension integral with one of said carriers and projecting beyond the adjacent forward end of the other carrier, at scraper blade projecting substantially right angularly from the forward end of said other carrier, a second scraper blade projecting substantially right angularly from said extension, an auxiliary scraper blade pivotally associated with one of said blades, said auxiliary blade eifecting the cleaning of the bottom of a groove having a width greater than the combined thickness of said first and second mentioned blades, and

a laterally projecting lug carried by said auxiliary blade for limiting the movement of the latter from an inoperative to an operative position.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

